Hospitals: Crisis at Boston City

HOSPITALS
Like many of its patients, Boston City Hospital is old, impoverished and
badly in need of rehabilitation. Paint peels from sagging walls.
Windows are smashed throughout the complex of 34 buildings, and the
heating system is so antiquated that some wards must be shut down
entirely in winter because the temperature cannot be pushed above 40°.
The ill-ventilated, six-story maternity wing, where 3,500 babies are
born each year, does not have a single bath or shower. Sighs Staff
Physician William V. McDermott: "This is a hell of a way to run a
hospital."